Tommy Henrich & Mickey Owen Signed Baseball “10-5-41” – COA

From 1941 to 1944, Mickey Owen averaged 46 RBI a season for the Dodgers and played for the Brooklyn team which faced the New York Yankees in the 1941 World Series. During that championship season, he set a then-record for most consecutive errorless fielding chances by a catcher (508) and finished with a .995 fielding average. Yet, ironically, Owen is most remembered in baseball lore today for a costly mistake that he committed during that year’s World Series. The Yankees held a 2-games-to-1 lead entering Game 4 on October 5 at the Dodgers’ home field, Ebbets Field. With the Dodgers leading 4–3 and 2 outs for the Yankees in the top of the ninth inning and the count 3–2 on Tommy Henrich, Henrich swung and missed at strike 3, which would have been the final out of the game, but the ball eluded Owen and went to the backstop, allowing Henrich to make it safely to first base. The Yankees then rallied and scored four runs in the remainder of the inning and won the game 7–4. Instead of the series being tied, the victory gave the Yankees a 3–1 lead. The next day, they beat the Dodgers 3–1 in Game 5 and won the World Championship. The Dodgers did not return to the World Series until 1947 and didn’t win the series until 1955.

Presented is an OAL (Brown) baseball autographed by both participants in that almost final play, Tommy Henrich and Mickey Owen. Both signed it on the sweet spot in blue ballpoint pen (“9”) with the game date on the bottom panel, “Out – 10-5-41”. The ball itself shows tone spots from age.

Authentication: Show Ticket & 100% Authentic Team